How do I turn off a HDD?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frank Martin
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Frank Martin

I have WindowsXP pro.

I have three 500Gb HDDs, two of which I use for storage of
movies & books, but not always.

These spin all the time and I thought it would be better to
turn them off when they are not being used.

Can this be done with Windows, or with other software?

Can I just pull the power plug to the HDD while the computer
is still running (or with a 4-pole switch) and leave the
data leads connected? Disconnecting the data lead is
finnicky.

Please help, since I only access these drives occasionally.
 
I have WindowsXP pro.

I have three 500Gb HDDs, two of which I use for storage of
movies & books, but not always.
Click to expand...


Internal drives, as opposed to external ones?

These spin all the time and I thought it would be better to
turn them off when they are not being used.
Click to expand...


Not really. If they are internals, I would just let them run.

Can this be done with Windows, or with other software?

Can I just pull the power plug to the HDD while the computer
is still running (or with a 4-pole switch) and leave the
data leads connected? Disconnecting the data lead is
finnicky.
Click to expand...


Don't do either.

Please help, since I only access these drives occasionally.
Click to expand...


It doesn't matter. Let them run.
 
Frank said:
I have WindowsXP pro.

I have three 500Gb HDDs, two of which I use for storage of
movies & books, but not always.

These spin all the time and I thought it would be better to
turn them off when they are not being used.

Can this be done with Windows, or with other software?

Can I just pull the power plug to the HDD while the computer
is still running (or with a 4-pole switch) and leave the
data leads connected? Disconnecting the data lead is
finnicky.

Please help, since I only access these drives occasionally.
Click to expand...

You can cut the power consumption in half by replacing the two 500G drives
with one Terabyte drive.

Less than $100.

You should do it. It's for the children.
 
The date and time was Saturday, June 20, 2009 5:52:15 PM, and on a whim,
Frank Martin pounded out on the keyboard:
I have WindowsXP pro.

I have three 500Gb HDDs, two of which I use for storage of
movies & books, but not always.

These spin all the time and I thought it would be better to
turn them off when they are not being used.

Can this be done with Windows, or with other software?

Can I just pull the power plug to the HDD while the computer
is still running (or with a 4-pole switch) and leave the
data leads connected? Disconnecting the data lead is
finnicky.

Please help, since I only access these drives occasionally.
Click to expand...

Hi Frank,

If they're internal drives, click Start, Run, type powercfg.cpl and
click OK. In the Power Schemes tab, there is an option to turn off hard
disks if they're not in use. I have 3 internal drives and I hear drives
shutting down all the time. I have my OS's on one drive, data on
another and programs on another, but they still shut off.

If they're external. I wouldn't leave them running all the time, only
when you actually need to access them.


Terry R.
 
Frank said:
I have WindowsXP pro.

I have three 500Gb HDDs, two of which I use for storage of
movies & books, but not always.

These spin all the time and I thought it would be better to
turn them off when they are not being used.

Can this be done with Windows, or with other software?

Can I just pull the power plug to the HDD while the computer
is still running (or with a 4-pole switch) and leave the
data leads connected? Disconnecting the data lead is
finnicky.

Please help, since I only access these drives occasionally.
Click to expand...

There are hot swap trays for IDE drives. Although I would
probably unplug the drive after the system was shut down,
for safety. (You don't want to shake about, a spinning
hard drive.)

I've tried looking before, to see if IDE interfaces are
"failsafe", meaning they don't materially affect their
connection to the IDE cable, when the drive power goes
off. But I've never been able to confirm that. So I
can't really predict what would happen, if you used
a four pole switch to interrupt the Molex to the drive.

There are also USB or ESATA external housings available for
drives. I have a nice one I got a few months ago, and it
has a switch on the back. I can use "Safely Remove" in
the tray, to prepare the USB cable for removal, and then
just switch off power on the drive enclosure (i.e. I don't
have to touch the USB cable). That would ensure the power
stays off. So at least my current external enclosure, seems
to have the desired ingredients. This one uses a "wall wart"
for drive power. (I'm not really happy about its power
rating, and am a bit curious what would happen, if a drive
requiring 12V @ 3A for spinnup was connected. So far, for
the devices tested, the power has worked fine.)

(The fan is actually 40mm...)
http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-604-006-03.jpg

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16817604006

Paul
 
Frank Martin said:
I have WindowsXP pro.

I have three 500Gb HDDs, two of which I use for storage of movies & books,
but not always.

These spin all the time and I thought it would be better to turn them off
when they are not being used.

Can this be done with Windows, or with other software?

Can I just pull the power plug to the HDD while the computer is still
running (or with a 4-pole switch) and leave the data leads connected?
Disconnecting the data lead is finnicky.

Please help, since I only access these drives occasionally.
Click to expand...


Frank:
One other suggestion if it's at all practical in your situation...

Assuming you're working with a desktop PC...

Is there any possibility you have one or more vacant 5 1/4" bays on your
computer case? If so, you might want to consider installing a removable hard
drive configuration (mobile rack) to easily achieve your objective. Aside
from your internally-installed HDD, you could use the mobile rack to house
the other two HDDs, each in their own removable tray or caddy. We've be
working with removable HDDs for many years now and they're a wonderful
hardware arrangement for PC desktops. They're simple to install (no more
difficult than installing an optical drive) and quite reliable. The
flexibility & peace-of-mind they provide to the user can not be
overemphasized. We generally install these removable HDD affairs in nearly
every desktop PC we build.

If you're at all interested and unfamiliar with these devices I can tell you
a bit more about them should you wish.
Anna
 
Anna said:
If you're at all interested and unfamiliar with these devices I can tell you
a bit more about them should you wish.
Click to expand...

And it would probably only take 300-400 lines of posting to do that.

Or more.
 
Frank Martin said:
I have WindowsXP pro.

I have three 500Gb HDDs, two of which I use for storage of
movies & books, but not always.

These spin all the time and I thought it would be better
to turn them off when they are not being used.

Can this be done with Windows, or with other software?

Can I just pull the power plug to the HDD while the
computer is still running (or with a 4-pole switch) and
leave the data leads connected? Disconnecting the data
lead is finnicky.

Please help, since I only access these drives
occasionally.
Click to expand...


Thank you all for the replies. I will investigate the
"toaster" HDD holder option.
 
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